This exhaustive reference on English literary culture has been updated to contain 60 new entries on contemporary novelists, poets and dramatists, ranging from Peter Ackroyd to Salman Rushdie. The coverage also includes genre writers and prominent writers from other English-speaking cultures. Existing entries on contemporary writers have been revised and expanded. There are also new appendices listing winners of the major literary prizes, and a full chronology spanning nearly 1000 years of English literature.